


Prompt: S.S.R. Schooling

by EssayOfThoughts



Series: MCU Maximoff Oneshots [39]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Codependency, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-08
Updated: 2016-02-08
Packaged: 2018-05-19 02:56:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5951385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EssayOfThoughts/pseuds/EssayOfThoughts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Schooling and studying under the S.S.R. is quite different to what they expected.</p><p>Continued from <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/5666581">This</a> and continued in <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/5715586">This</a> and <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/5690527">This</a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Prompt: S.S.R. Schooling

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Prompt: S.S.R. Students](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5666581) by [EssayOfThoughts](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EssayOfThoughts/pseuds/EssayOfThoughts). 



> Written for a prompt on tumblr readable [Here](http://essayofthoughts.tumblr.com/post/138918267590/could-we-maybe-see-some-teenagetwins-in-ssr-au).

**i.**  
When Pietro is given a field to run in, with a constantly changing assault course Wanda cannot help but smile at his glee. He could endure experiments, endure learning, endure days and days cooped up in the deep-buried rooms and offices of the S.S.R., but given a chance to run, run freely like this, it makes his mind sing with joy.

Wanda is wrapped up warm, a dark coat cut down from one of the thick woollen greatcoats of a navy officer. After so long away from much sunlight her skin is terribly pale and it’s stark against her dark eyes and dark hair.

She can feel Howard thinking that she looks as much a witch as she is with her powers.

 

* * *

 

 **ii.**  
With Hebrew, German, Serbian and English all learned and learned well it doesn’t take the twins long to learn more. They pick up French from Dernier and are taught how to swear in Japanese from Morita. Peggy spends time teaching them how to apply accents, so they can sound American or British or Scottish, Irish, Australian, anything they chose, with a slight twist to a vowel, a lengthened sound, a cropped letter.

When it comes to schoolwork - and their training in deciphering and applying codes - Wanda picks it up faster, but as soon as she has learned it Pietro gains her skill in it, able to apply it at his shock-fast speed. It’s almost, Howard comments to Peggy one day, like a game of leapfrog, Wanda making the leap, and Pietro running to be in front of her as soon as possible.

 

* * *

 

 **iii.**  
They are fifteen when they’re allowed to really train in earnest. Howard explains the first as testing their limits, but Wanda is growing in strength every day, as is Pietro so really the limits are constantly being reset.

All the same they train as told, train to straining, until Wanda has migraines and Pietro is shaking himself into a blur and ask, again and again to continue.

 

* * *

 

 **iv.**  
Schooling is something else as they get older. Pietro is smart enough to pick it all up, according to Wanda, but focusses on specific things, on physics and how it applies to his speed, on ballistics and bomb radii, and any number of other things as they might help him protect his sister. Wanda, on the other hand, is content to learn what is put in front of her and research other things in her own time.

They balance each other out, still, and Howard and Peggy are not entirely sure how they do it, their balancing act, but admit that it is highly effective for them.

 

* * *

 

 **v.**  
When they all relocate to America, it’s Peggy who encourages them to go to university, and Howard who offers to pay. They end up going to Cornell, helping Howard scout out potential new employees when they’re not working on papers, or scrambling through the creeks and up the waterways around Ithaca.

 

* * *

 

 **vi.**  
“They think we’re weird,” Wanda says one day, at Purity Ice Cream in town. Her sundae is chocolate, nothing but chocolate of various kinds, while Pietro had settled for something so minty Wanda called it toothpaste.

Pietro shrugs. “They always will, won’t they?” he says. “Even without our powers they’d find us weird, orphaned foreign kids sponsored by _Howard Stark_ of all people.” He’s half-laughing, as he ever is, at the awe people seem to have for the Howard they know to be as daft as a goose half the time.

“Mm,” Wanda hums. “But not just that.” She’s staring into the street, watching cars pass by in the bright sunlight, and Pietro sighs, reaches out, takes her hand.

“I know,” he says, “What they think of us. I don’t care. You’re still my twin. You come first.”

The smile Wanda gives is bright and happy. “Best not tell Peg that,” she says, “Else we’ll never be allowed on active duty under her watch again.”

 

* * *

 

**Author's Note:**

> When I was a baby my parents briefly lived in Ithaca, NY, and took my sibs and I there the other year - [Purity Ice Cream does exist](http://www.purityicecream.com/), and it is heavenly. Comments are, as ever, much appreciated.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Prompt: Asking of Nightmares](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5690527) by [EssayOfThoughts](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EssayOfThoughts/pseuds/EssayOfThoughts)
  * [Prompt: Honorary Nuncle](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5715586) by [EssayOfThoughts](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EssayOfThoughts/pseuds/EssayOfThoughts)




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